Record-breaking Showcase comes to a close on Tuesday

Record-breaking Showcase comes to a close on Tuesday

Cooper Hoheisel led the Breezy Point North Stars to a 7-3 win on Tuesday and a perfect record at the 2018 NA3HL Showcase.

The 2018 NA3HL came to a close on Tuesday at the Super Rink in Blaine and it certainly set a new standard for NA3HL Showcase events.

“We were very pleased with the scout turnout and they were treated to some great competion by our teams and players,” said NAHL Commissioner Mark Frankenfeld. “It was a great opportunity for them to Showcase their skills and celebrate the league.”

The teams from the West Division fared the best, going 18-3-0 at the event. In total, 9 of the 38 teams went undefeated at the event with a perfect 3-0-0 record. Congratulations go out to the St. Louis Jr. Blues, Peoria Mustangs, Coulee Region Chill, Texas Brahmas, Granite City Lumberjacks, North Iowa Bulls, New Ulm Steel, Breezy Point North Stars and Willmar WarHawks for going undefeated.

Over 120 scouts, including over 90 college coaches were in attendance at the event, which set a new record for the NA3HL Showcase. There was representation from all 24 of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) teams, which featured the head or assistant coach of all of the teams. Five of the league’s head coaches were in attendance.

In addition, two NA3HL players signed NAHL tenders during the event, with more to follow in the upcoming weeks.

Louisiana 7 @ Skylands 0 – The Drillers capped off their Showcase set with a fiery 7-0 victory over the Kings on Tuesday as they look to keep pace with first-place Texas. Grady Reis turned aside all 17 shots he faced as Drew Wotta and Gunner Morgan stole the show with two goals apiece. Hayden Watzka, Josh Jorajuria and Ivan Matveev potted individual goals as well for the Drillers, who fired 41 shots towards Skylands’ Tom Fornabia.

Great Falls 3 @ Northeast 5 – Kolye Bankauskas’ hat-trick paced a rampant Northeast offense as the Generals topped the Americans 5-3 on day three of the Showcase. Thaddeus Marcola and Deacon More scored as well for Northeast, who notched their first win of the Showcase in the contest. Great Falls received goals from Cody Dearing, Jack Olson and Payton McSharry, as well as 30 saves from Drew Scites in the loss. Devun Schneider picked up the victory with 34 stops in the Generals’ cage.

Missoula 7 @ Long Beach 4 – Misha Akatnov lit the lamp thrice as Seth Daniel and Evan Williams combined for 40 saves in the Bruins cage to guide Missoula to a 7-4 win over the Sharks to conclude their play at the Showcase. Bill Lucas, Trevor Prince, Kyler Fullerton and Jim Seielstad also found twine for Missoula, who went 2-1 in Blaine. Cade Lambdin starred with two goals for Long Beach, complementing markers by Noah Carlock and Dino Mukovoz and 43 saves by Ryan Cortez.

Butte 6 @ Niagara Falls 5 (OT) – Charles Blandin netted his second strike of the contest just under a minute into overtime to help the Cobras top the Powerhawks 5-4 on Tuesday. Ben Dirks logged a hat-trick for Butte, while Tyson Stovin added a goal to the Cobras’ tally and netminder Sean Leonard picked up the win. Raymond Conroy posted a pair of goals for Niagara Falls as Manny Sigal, Spencer Hrynczak and Matthew Stewart each found twine as well. Conroy, Sigal and Hrynczak also recorded three points apiece on the night. Josh Mitchell took the loss between the pipes for the ‘Hawks.

Yellowstone 3 @ Maine 5 – Down 3-1 through 36 minutes, the Wild exploded for four unanswered goals in the final 24 minutes to notch a 5-3 win over Yellowstone. Chandler Bilodeau posted two goals in the final frame, Luke Church, Kadin Mason and Anthony Albanese lit the lamp as well and Daniel Sprague turned aside 18 shots in the win. Tyler Cramer led the way for Yellowstone, scoring twice alongside Jon Green’s lone strike and a combined 53 saves from Michael Allman and Logan Cooksy.

Texas 4 @ Binghamton 1 – The Brahmas jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never looked back in this one, featuring two goals from Michael Redmon in a 4-1 victory over Binghamton to stay atop the South Division. Seth Cushing and Kyle Welch provided offense as well for Texas, while Thomas Held and Bryce Runyan combined for 28 saves in the Brahmas net, allowing just a single goal to the Senators’ Mike Padgeon. Jeff Zero took the loss in the Binghamton cage despite an outstanding 54-save showing.

Gillette 6 @ Cape Cod 1 – Gillette rode a four-goal outburst in the second period and a Gage Thompson hat-trick to a 6-1 win over the Islanders on Tuesday. George Stilson, Austin Newson and Tyler Kaminski tallied as well, easily eclipsing Cole Therrien’s individual goal for Cape Cod. Aaron LaChance picked up the win in Gillette’s crease, outdueling Cape Cod’s Parker Orchard at the opposite end of the rink.

Mid Cities 4 @ Oswego 3 (OT) – Nick Snyder struck on the power-play two minutes into overtime to help the Jr. Stars take the 4-3 win over the Stampede in a game that featured three different tying goals in regulation time. Brandon Speights led the Stars’ efforts through 60, posting the two Mid Cities tying efforts to help force OT. Ryan Muckensturm scored as well for Mid Cities, while Dylan Candleana, Joey Gallo and Nick Snyder of Oswego countered for the Stampede. Noah Kinsinger and Francisco Clark-Silva combined for the win with 22 saves, while Colin Burgess stared down 21 of 25 shots for Oswego.

Helena 2 @ North Iowa 6 – Four different Bulls found twine to ruin a strong 38-save showing from Helena’s Alexander Rogers as North Iowa blitzed the Bighorns 6-2 to go 3-0 at the Showcase. Marco Escobar scored twice, Nick Johnson, Konnor Carlson, Jarod Blackowiak and Jimmy McDermott found twine once apiece and Evan Babekuhl stopped 14 pucks in the Bulls’ victory. Meanwhile, Luc Cross and Darren Donovan struck for the Bighorns to keep it close through 40 before the Bulls logged three third-period tallies to put the game out of reach.

Atlanta 5 @ NAPHL Selects 1 – Nicholas DeGrazia put the Selects on the board just under three minutes into the game, but the Capitals overwhelmed the NAPHL stars with five goals in the remaining 57 minutes to take a 5-1 win on Tuesday. Nicholas Sleeper, Brett Dougherty, Gunner Moore, Brody Nielsen and Christopher Walker all scored to lift the Caps to victory, backstopped by Patrick Egdorf’s 21 saves. Noah Altman and Luke Newell posted a shared 29 stops for the Selects.

Willmar 10 @ Eugene 1 – Four different skaters potted two or more goals as the Warhawks lit up the scoreboard in a 10-1 win over the Generals — doubling their next-highest single-game goal output this season. Marquez Ginger set the tone with a hat-trick, alongside two-goal efforts by Elijah Slagter, Ian Zaleski and Brandon Holt and Andrew Pitleck’s individual strike. Broc Friesen scored for Eugene, who received a solid 35 stops from netminder Carson Roisum. Jake Sumner and Lucas Ehrlich stopped seven pucks in Willmar’s win.

L/A 0 @ St. Louis 6 – Matt Monreal recorded a hat-trick and Mikael Foucher posted his third shutout of the season as the Jr. Blues blanked the Nordiques 6-0 to post a perfect 3-0 record at the event and move into a 1st place tie in the Central Division. Two goals from Monreal and another from Hunter Muzzillo put the Jr. Blues ahead 3-0 after one period. Monreal added another for his hat-trick in the 2nd period and Jack Moore and Ivan Galaguzov also added goals to make it a 6-0 final. Owen Liskiewicz took the loss in goal for the Nordiques.

College Station 10 @ Evansville 3 – The Spirit won their second straight game and went 2-1 at the Showcase thanks to a convincing 10-3 win over Evansvile. Matt McBride and Garrett Schnorr each scored twice in the win. Other goals for the Spirit came from Jack Giddings and Ryan Wolf in the 1st period, and Trevor Borlace, Jeremy Brodeur, Eli Gould, and Jared Slay in the 2nd period. Evansville got their goals from Deric Richison, Brent Clemmer, and Anthony Caserta. Blake Forystek picked up the win in goal, while Noah Brandau took the loss.

Breezy Point 7 @ Wausau 3 – The North Stars completed a perfect run at the Showcase, which was capped off by a 7-3 win over Wausau on Tuesday. North Stars forward Cooper Hoheisel had a hat-trick in the win. All of Hoheisel’s goals came in a four-goal 1st period, which also included a goal from James Curran. Jordan Linder added a 2nd period goal and Dylan Borseth and Jacob Berkowitz scored in the 3rd period for the North Stars. The RiverWolves got goals from Cody Squillace in the 1st period, Tanner Eskro in the 2nd period and Mitchel Idalski in the 3rd period. Dan Fielding picked up the win in goal, while Micah Hershey took the loss.

Rochester 1 @ Peoria 2 – Luke Weberg was solid between the pipes as he led the Mustangs to a 2-1 win over Rochester on the final day of the Showcase. Peoria jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a goal late in the 1st period from Brandon Hay. The lead would swell to 2-0 when Zach Eddington scored early in the 3rd period. The Grizzlies showed signs of a comeback when later in the 3rd period Vladislav Sorokin scored his 26th goal of the season, but Weberg shut the door the rest of the game. Nick Bucklin took the loss in goal for the Grizzlies.

Granite City 3 @ Milwaukee 2 – The Lumberjacks completed a perfect run through the Showcase, which was capped off by a 3-2 win over Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Power led 2-1 after one period thanks to goals from Jack Berry and Ethan Dabbs. Bailey Sommers scored for the Lumberjacks. Then Matt Moran put the team on his back as the Granite City forward scored in the 2nd period to tie the game and then again in the 3rd period for the game-winner to complete the win. Bryce Crowley made 19 saves in the win, while Aaron Dickstein took the loss, making 18 saves.

New Ulm 7 @ Wisconsin 1 – Seven different players scored and Henry Baribeau made 15 saves as the New Ulm Steel completed a perfect 3-0 Showcase with a 7-1 win against the Whalers. The Steel jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Jarrett Cammarata, Michael Savelkoul, and Sam Ayd. Hunter Johnson, Jordan Cooper, and Keegan Bauman added 2nd period goals and Jake Ford scored in the 3rd period. The lone Wiscosin goal came from Steven Delikat. Caleb Sauer took the loss in goal with 17 saves.

Alexandria 2 @ Coulee Region 6 – Brady Lindauer had two goals and two assists to help the Chill to a 6-2 win over the Blizzard, which completed a perfect 3-0 run through the Showcase for Coulee Region. The Chill jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Lindauer, Thomas Magnavite, and Matt Janke. Lindauer scored again in the 2nd period and Brandon Ratzloff also added a goal and Aslan Akervik added a 3rd period goal. The Blizzard got their goals from Riley Scanlon and Brandon Connett. Michael Janke picked up the win in goal, while Ville Hyttinen took the loss.